


A World Away (But Right Next to You)

by QueenMadds



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Behavioral Analysis Unit (Criminal Minds), Big Brother Eliot Spencer, Brothers, Eliot Spencer is Spencer Reid's Brother, Eliot Spencer-centric, Eliot takes care of Spencer after Hankel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s02e15 Revelations, FBI, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, Leverage Crew - Freeform, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Post-Canon, Post-Episode: s02e15 Revelations, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Eliot Spencer, Sad Spencer Reid, Siblings, Spencer Reid meets the Leverage Crew, Spencer Reid-centric, WIP, Work In Progress, bau, thieves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:35:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25174711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenMadds/pseuds/QueenMadds
Summary: Eliot Spencer misses his younger brother Spencer Reid like he's missing a limb, but ever since Moreau, it hasn't been safe for him to be part of his baby brother's life. 6 years later Spencer calls him broken after what Hankel did to him.
Comments: 15
Kudos: 191





	A World Away (But Right Next to You)

As far as the FBI was concerned Spencer Reid is the only child to William and Diana Reid. Unofficially, Eliot Spencer has always been good at hiding his tracks, and as far as the intelligence community was concerned Eliot Spencer has one younger brother who ended up inheriting the family business and has not spoken to his infamous brother since he left for the army at 18.

In reality, family can be messy and Eliot Spencer and Spencer Reid were half brothers from an affair between Diana and Eliot’s father.

Spencer started at Caltech when he was 12 while Eliot was on his first tour, it was only when Eliot was on break between his first and second tours and Spencer was at MIT that they became close. Diana kept in touch with Eliot while he was away – she liked knowing her son’s brother and getting to write letters that she knew were appreciated – and so Eliot knew how worried she was about Spencer being alone so far from home, and she was far too sick to help him. Whether Eliot’s decision to move into an apartment near MIT and have his little brother live with him was out of a sense of obligation or need for normalcy it never mattered to either of the brothers – it gave them the support they desperately needed.

The pattern continued, every time Spencer went to a new school Eliot would get an apartment nearby that Spencer would live in and would stay with him when he came back from whatever tour he was on. Eventually, people began to take notice of Eliot’s talents and he slowly fell into doing worse and worse things in the name of his country… and later for people like Damien Moreau or the highest bidder. He didn’t want to but as he felt himself becoming darker and attracting more malicious eyes on him he knew he couldn’t bring that home to the one thing in his life that felt untouched by the evil of the world.

10 years later

Spencer Reid was a bit of a legend within the FBI. The youngest agent to ever be accepted into the prestigious BAU, smartest man anyone will likely ever meet, and while strange an honest and good agent. He might have been looked down on by some agents for his lack of athletic abilities and unusual behaviour, but none could deny how talented he was.

Now more so than ever, the details outside of the team were minimal but gossip spreads like wildfire, all they knew was an insane serial killer took Dr. Reid hostage for 2 days. What the team knew on the other hand was so much worse. They saw how Hankel fractured the once bright and happy BAU genius, how much he changed. The team was like a family and it hurt them beyond words that they didn’t know how to help their youngest member.

“Listen man, you gotta take some time, have a vacation, go do whatever the mysterious Doctor Reid does with his time off. Just take advantage of the forced vacation… We both know it’ll be the last time in a while.” Morgan got a certain look on his face when he didn’t want to show how much he cares about someone while still trying to support them, and Spencer saw it far too often for his liking.

In the end, it was mostly the idea of being stuck in Quantico while the rest of the team was out in the field, and being constantly profiled (both conscientiously and not) that made him give in and go home instead of attempting to find a way into going on the next case. One whole month to do whatever he wants, to have a vacation and not need to worry about being called into work. It really would be foolish to waste the opportunity.

Vegas was… hard. It was always nice getting to see his mom, but it seems like each time he sees her she is less like herself and more an empty shell of a person, that he is terrified of one day becoming. Spencer managed to stay in Vegas for 3 days before he realized this is not what will help him feel alive again. He felt like his chest was hollow, a chamber where every ache and pain in both his mind and body echo, a haunting _empty_ was one bad moment away from fracturing and breaking into irreparable shards. It was the same sort of emptiness he felt when William left and when he had to put his mom in the sanatorium. But those times were worlds apart from this – he had Eliot when those happened. He had his big brother to hold him together, to make the empty seem fillable.

But Eliot was different now, not the big brother who could envelop him in the tightest hugs that fused all the broken pieces back together.

Spencer could remember clearly (as he could everything) how pained Eliot was the last time they saw one another, how the darkness seemed to drag him down until he was an empty man who felt nothing but pain. Remembers the look in his eyes when he told him he was not a good man and that if he could do one last truly good act, it would be to protect his little brother, keep him safe. For almost 6 years Spencer listened to one of the only things his brother ever asked of him. But he needed his big brother and 6 years is a lot of time for things to change, Spencer knew that no matter what kind of person Eliot’s become he would still be the kind of person who would do anything for the people he loves. Spencer just hoped he was still one of those people.

Spencer got the old disposable phone from the bottom of his suitcase and called the only number in it, not that he needed that – he had the number memorized from the moment he got the parting gift. Having the phone with him was like a teddy bear to a scared child, it comforted him and got him through the worst things in life.

The dial tone was harsh against his ears. It felt like an eternity of listening before a gruff voice greeted him, “Hello?”

Spencer felt his heart in his throat and was nearly unable to croak out his response, “Eliot?”

There was a pause between the brothers before the elder once again spoke, “Spencer? Is it you?” The mixture of fear and hope in his voice brought Spencer to tears, “Yeah Eliot, it's me.”

\---

“Are you safe? Where are you?” Even after 6 years of no contact, Eliot could read his little brother like an open book, could hear clear as day how scared and hurt Spencer was and needed to help, to make him better.

“Can-can I come see you?” The fear of rejection was worse than any knife to his gut.

“Yeah, yeah I’m in Portland – I can come get you? Whatever you need… I got you, I got you Spencer”

“I’m in Vegas… but I need you, Eliot, I need help” Eliot knew full and well how bad things must be for Spencer to ask for help, for his voice to carry so much pain.

“Okay stay on the phone with me and I’ll get plane tickets and everything set for you, don’t worry buddy, I got you.” Eliot was in the kitchen of the brewpub when the burner phone rang and he ditched the pasta he was working on to take the call in the poker room. He held the flip phone to his ear and quickly made his way to the apartment above, he needed Hardison’s help ASAP.

“Okay bud, what new books have you read, anything good?” Books were a sure-fire way to get Spencer rambling and take his mind off of whatever is plaguing him.

“There- there’s a new article about the use of geographical profiling and how it can apply to a wide range of UNSUBS.” Eliot couldn’t help smiling at the happiness slowly creeping its way into his brother’s voice.

“Yeah? I have a ton of questions, just give me a second to get those tickets for you and we can talk about it.” He fell onto the couch next to Hardison

“Hey man, can you get me a ticket from Vegas to here?” Hardison nodded and began typing erratically on his laptop.

“Spencer, do you mind if I put you on speaker? It’s just me and Hardison.”

“Hardison? Do you trust him?”

“With my life, he’s on my team. We do good work now man, help people.” Spencer easily brought out his emotional side. At his brother’s agreement, he hit the button and placed the phone on the coffee table.

“Okay from Vegas to Portland…How many seats? When for? And do you need a return flight?” Hardison said pausing his typing.

“Uh, just one ticket please, as soon as you one’s available… and no return flight. I have a month off work so I am not in a rush.” God, for Spencer to have a month off work and to sound so broken… some bad shit must have gone down.

“Al…right. One first-class ticket leaving Sin City today at 4 pm.”

“Wow, you must be pretty talented to get one so quickly. Thank you.” Hardison straightened from his slumped position and grinned proudly, “No problemo.”

Eliot grabbed his phone from the table and took it off speaker before continuing their conversation.

“Alright, buddy, now that that’s sorted tell me about that Geographical Profiling while you get ready for the flight.”

The two brothers talked until Spencer had to board, Eliot gave Spencer a preview of his team so he could be prepared for their specific brand of insanity.

Eliot called Parker to the apartment where he sat down his friends at the couches.

“Okay… so Hardison knows a little of this but I need to tell you about - well about my brother,” He dragged his hands down his face, “So, I have a younger brother. Spencer.”

Hardison whipped his head to stare, “Wait a damn minute! Spencer? Tell me, God, his name ain't Spencer Spencer?”

“Dammit, Hardison! No, his name isn’t fucking _Spencer Spencer_. He’s my half brother and his mom named him Spencer to connect him to my side of the family. We have the same dad but he was raised by his mom and her husband.”

“Oh, thank you, lord” The thieves laughed at the ridiculous thankfulness in the hacker’s voice.

“Spencer is my younger brother. He’s gonna be staying with me for a while, he has time off work and is flying here as we speak. He knows some of what I did, before going good. Once I started working for Moreau I cut off contact, couldn’t risk him.” Eliot clenched his fists; another thing Moreau took from him.

“Ooh is he a thief too?” Excitement filled Parker’s voice as she bounced in her seat.

“No Parker, he’s not a thief. He’s a Fed, a Behavioural Analyst.”

“Man, what the hell does a “Behavioural Analyst” even do?” Hardison questioned teasingly.

“They figure out who a criminal is based on what they do, but only the real bad ones. His team doesn’t care about us – they catch serial killers and kidnappers. Deal with a lot of nasty stuff.”

“Of course, your brother’s a badass!”

“Yeah kid is pretty badass, but not in the way you think Hardison. He’s built like a toothpick, real skinny and no meat on those bones, it’s his big brain that makes him a badass. He’s a goddamn certified genius,” Eliot could never manage to keep the pride out of his voice when talking about Spencer, “I know you love your research so look up Doctor Spencer Reid. But don’t go digging into his life alright, give him some privacy.”

Hardison lit up like a light at getting permission to look Eliot’s brother up.


End file.
